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Becoming a Bicycle Friendly Community℠

Bicycling is more than a practical, cost-effective solution to many municipal challenges. It’s an opportunity to make your community a vibrant destination for residents and visitors — a place where people don’t just live and work, but thrive.

Since the creation of the Bicycle Friendly Community program in 1995 there have been over 1500 community applications processed by League staff. There are currently 464 recognized Bicycle Friendly Communities and nearly 100 Honorable Mention communities.

The Bicycle Friendly Community program provides a roadmap to improving conditions for bicycling and guidance to help make your community's vision for a better, bikeable community a reality. The infographic below provides a snapshot of key metrics from Bicycle Friendly Communities in 2003. Similar information is available on all recent report cards.

A BFC welcomes bicyclists by providing safe accommodations for bicycling and encouraging people to bike for transportation and recreation. Making bicycling safe and convenient are keys to improving public health, reducing traffic congestion, improving air quality and improving quality of life.

Testimonials

“It built recognition of what we have done, which helps getting funding for the very long list of what we still have to do. Having the honor actually made it easier for us to give a frank assessment of where we lag and help build political support for future phases.”

—Wayne Feiden

Director of Planning and Development, Northampton, MA

“We knew this recognition would be important to our civic and business leaders, and that the metrics set out in the League’s application would be important measures for us.”